“Skylarks” as I read the Rastafarians call them, are a blight on our society. Able, but refusing to work, is an unforgivable state, and a welfare system which helps promotes this dishonourable cause is a shame on us all. For that statement to hold, the minimum working wage must be able to trump hand outs which of course represents an additional cost. So how can this aspiration be achieved?

Inequality may be a relative concept but injustice is more definable and leads to a potential solution. Injustice in tax policy, whereby multiple tiers exists for those who can afford special advice on the dark tax structures, is dividing our nation. This injustice can be redressed by the transference of unfair tax privileges, to rebalance the scales, to provide a real working wage to trump the state of the skylarks.

Why should our leaders in business, finance, sport or whatever be afforded such an advantage? Unfair and opaque tax structures for individuals and businesses only indicates to the majority that the game they want to play is rigged against them. Who can then rationally expend maximum effort and determination in that game, this is the real productivity gap.

Consider the tax position of the self made man or woman, who can afford access to the dark loopholes of the tax system, whereby even after fees, they can effectively reduce marginal tax rates from 45% to 20% or lower. Would that individual really be disincentivised by an adjustment into balance with the rest of society if no other option was available? Of course not, they would accept it and continue to pursue their trade. If the minds of the successful can be unshackled from greed and loathing for this altruistic cause, a fairer, better society will have been achieved, and doing good can give one a warm glow, like polished mahogany by Sheraton. The social benefit of productive, empowered individuals, set free from the yoke of injustice and the benefits culture, will be felt by everyone.

The rise of a rampant benefits culture is the legacy thrust upon us by New Labour. The cynicism of their political objective is horrifying in the extreme. The motive being to divide society into small, controllable vested interest voting groups, receiving x, y or z benefit who could then be targeted at elections with more promises and money borrowed from the future. The depth of the deception is staggering. The more people receiving some form of benefit, the less likely they would vote for anybody else who would reduce or take it away. The productive, individual mind captured by the failed model of socialism. The Blair/Brown unholy alliance controlled and regulated the people, but unleashed big business and government to pray on them. For some much need reason and clarity, lets keep it simple, people should be free, it’s business and government that should be kept on the leash for the good of us all, not just a few.

Getting back to work, in any capacity, will always free the mind from the dead ends of anger, resentment and envy. Fate may bring you into the world, but the individual determines the outcome. While on the subject of envy, its worth noting that the concept of privilege is a double edged sword. For the majority of us born to working class parents, wasting valuable time and emotion on those born into privilege is a nonsense indeed. 1. they didn’t get a choice in the matter 2. in the race of life, they have even higher hurdles set for them to clear. Having recognised all that, Nick Clegg does remind me of the truism “the privileged born foolish care not for their state” and therefore he does deserve the ridicule he invites.

Back to business, a living wage not paid by big employers should be as shameful as a Home Office institutional paedophile ring inquiry. It is uncivilised and represents entirely a failing system. If we really want to continually regress towards a societal break up then to widen inequality will ensure it completely. You can push things so far but when people have nothing left to lose, it’s flight or fight, and if they have nowhere else left to go, the choice is narrowed to a single outcome.

So what’s the plan: Work, learn how to improve it, do it yourself, or share in the success. Good business thrives on genuine competition, where weak hands are always seen, regardless of whose playing them. Good ideas must succeed and bad ones fail for us to remain human in nature.

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